Let the present fade away,
And the splendors of to-day;
For our hearts within us burn
As our glances backward turn.
What rare memories awaken
As the tree of life is shaken,
And its storied branches blow
In the winds of long ago!
Do ye not remember, brothers,
Ere the war-days how ’twas said
Grand, heroic days were over
And proud chivalry was dead?
Still we saw the glittering lances
Gleaming through the old romances,
Still beheld the watch-fires burning
On the cloudy heights of Time;
And from fields that they had won,
When the stormy fight was done,
Saw victorious knights returning
Flushed with triumph’s joy sublime!
For the light of song and story
Kindled with supernal glory
Plains where ancient heroes fought;
And illumined, with a splendor
Rare and magical and tender,
All the mighty deeds they wrought.
But we thought the sword of battle,
Long unused, had lost its glow,
And the sullen war-gods slumbered
Where their altar-fires burned low!